Silverstone Building Consultancy completes new North East education facilities
Silverstone Building Consultancy has completed the development of new technical training facilities on behalf of Northumberland College, after successfully helping its client, Education Partnership North East (EPNE), secure government money to fund them.
Silverstone was Project Manager, Cost Consultant and Principal Designer for a series of developments at Northumberland College’s Kirkley Hall campus in Ponteland, worth £1.9M.
The project has seen an old sheep shed transformed into a state-of-the-art sheep management centre, a former dairy demolished and turned into a new farm office and T Level classroom, a tractor workshop made into an engineering teaching facility and a dog grooming training facility created.
The new buildings will facilitate the teaching of technical T Level qualifications in Agriculture, Land Management & Production and Animal Care & Management.
The facilities, supported by the Department for Education’s T Level Capital Fund (TLCF), will allow hundreds of students aged between 16 and 18 learn skills for a career in agriculture and animal care.
The facilities include a high-tech 360-degree immersive hub where learners are literally immersed in learning content and lots of specialist training equipment, like bespoke dog baths and digital tagging for sheep – all designed to recreate a real-world industry environment.
Equans was principal contractor, JCP Consulting Engineers carried out the mechanical and engineering work and Shed were the structural engineers.
Paul Wharton, director at Silverstone Building Consultancy, said: “We have really enjoyed working on this project – it’s been really interesting learning about and understanding exactly what the College needs and researching all the technical specifications required for the different subject areas.
“We played a key role in helping Northumberland College secure funding to develop these facilities and have previously developed similar learning hubs for Sunderland College and Hartlepool Sixth Form College.”
Silverstone Building Consultancy is a specialist firm of chartered building surveyors and project managers, with offices in Newcastle, Leeds and London.
Steve Brown, executive director of Capital Projects & Estates at EPNE, said: “These new, bang-up-to-date learning environments will ensure the college and its T Level curriculum can grow in alignment with the evolving needs of the agricultural and animal care industries in the North East region.
“Silverstone’s expertise in understanding our unique requirements and designing the facility has been invaluable.”
